


Like stone we are, we stand together

by labellementeuse



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Dubious Mobster House Party, F/M, Pre-Canon, Twincest, Undercover as a Couple, You and me against the world
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-13 20:47:44
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,477
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9141598
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/labellementeuse/pseuds/labellementeuse
Summary: "So you want me to go to this party as … your date?"Vax squirms behind her. "As my wife."





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [coyotesuspect](https://archiveofourown.org/users/coyotesuspect/gifts).



> Dear coyotesuspect, I really hope you enjoy this! I was super excited to get to write this Extremely Niche pairing and I really hope I did it justice. Thank you to [redacted] for smrt comments and also not killing me as I went on and on and ON about this story, and to [redacted] and [redacted] for helpful beta-reading.
> 
> There are a few brief, non-explicit mentions of animal harm in this story. Feel free to comment for more details.

Vex nearly skewers Vax when he sneaks up behind her in the woods. It's been a week since he went back to the city to do more of the jobs he refuses to talk about, and Vex is sort of distracted by watching Trinket learning to climb a tree, so she doesn't hear him coming until he says her name and she draws, turns, and releases an arrow on pure heart-pounding reflex.

He ducks and her arrow thwacks into the tree behind him with a meaty thunk; relief flowers in Vex's chest, along with just a tiny bit of annoyance. 

She stomps past him to yank the arrow out. "What are you doing here?"

He glances pointedly between her and the arrow. "Good to see you, too, dearest sister. Don't worry, I'm fine."

"You know I hate it when you sneak up on me," she says, and tucks the arrow in her quiver. "I didn't think you'd be back for another week, anyway."

He spreads his arms wide. "I can't just be missing my sister?"

Apparently he wants a favour and doesn't want to admit it; Vex refuses to give him the satisfaction of asking. Instead, she goes over to Trinket, who's just fallen off a tree again, and fusses over him, pointedly ignoring Vax. 

Behind her, she hears him sigh, and then he comes to join them, squatting down to pet Trinket.

"Look how big your nephew's gotten," Vex says, after a while, thawing. 

"I can see," Vax says. "He'll be waist-high any minute," which is true. Vex can hardly believe he's the same cub she rescued a year ago. 

"He's climbing trees now," she says. "Learning, anyway." Trinket's the best thing about her life most days, especially when Vax is off in the city doing things he thinks she doesn't know about. Trinket's a very good listener, unlike her brother. Plus, watching him fall off trees is adorable.

They pet Trinket in silence for a while. Eventually, Vax produces fresh bread and cheese out of his pack. Vex kills a rabbit and stews it with wild onions, and they eat quietly. Vax still doesn't say why he's here; Vex is still too exasperated to push him. When they're done, they sit by the fire. Vex messes a little with the fletching on her new arrows, trying to give them the familiar balance she wants, and Vax just sits there, watching her like a creep. 

Eventually, the stare becomes too much; she put down what she's doing and turns to him. "Is there a problem, brother?"

He winces, caught out, but says "No." anyway, and Vex rolls her eyes at him. He frowns, opens his mouth, hesitates, closes it again; she's about ready to tell him to spit it out when he says "Your hair needs fixing."

It doesn't, and it clearly wasn't his first thought, but fine, she'll play along if it'll get him to act a little more normally, so she takes her hair out and settles down on the ground in front of the log she uses as a seat. He comes up behind her and sits down, so she's nestled in the V of his legs. For a moment she leans back and he leans forward. She's warm along the side of her legs where his are resting against hers, and warm up her back; his chin and mouth on her neck are a hotter spark when he buries his face in her shoulder, and she shivers.

After a few breaths he presses a kiss into her neck and straightens, then begins dragging his fingers through her hair, sectioning it off and braiding. It's one of the more complicated ones, she can tell right away, several braids starting in different places and coming together, the kind of thing he usually only does when he's bored or unhappy and can't think of a way to mess with her to cheer himself up. It's not a practical style, but that's all right. It's not like Vex can't do her own hair. Vax likes to do it, and she likes Vax to do it. That's all. So she waits patiently, hands in her lap. 

It's not until he's getting right to the end of the braid that he says anything. "Vex'ahlia," and she can hear the tension, poorly disguised by sarcasm, "it turns out I need a favour."

"Really, darling?" Vex says, matching his tone. "I'm sure we can work something out."

"You're so kind," he says, briefly dry. "There's a job," but he doesn't go on.

"I figured," Vex says, finally exasperated. "Just get on with it, Vax. I'm sure whatever it is will be fine."

He pulls a face at her. "It's … there's something I have to … take." 

"Ooh, a burglary? I love burglary," Vex says. He is very obviously lying; she doesn't know why he even bothers.

"Yes, and that's really weird, by the way," he says, as if Vex doesn't know perfectly well it's where half their money comes from. "But no, it's not a burglary. Not a short one, anyway. The thing will be at this nobleman's house this weekend--there's a party. A lot of people the Clasp deal with attend, apparently. It's a long party, three days, and it's the only time I'll be able to get at the thing, so I need to attend."

"You're not going to tell me what the thing is, are you?"

"Please don't ask me, Vex'ahlia," he says, and ties off the end of the braid.

He sounds tired, or a little sick. He sounds more and more unhappy every time she sees him, lately. Vex's heart gives a twist in sympathy, and she reaches out to pat his hand. "All right, darling," she says. "But I'm still not sure what you need me for."

"Right. The Clasp can get me an invitation, but I can't go alone. This party happens every year, and it's a sort of truce. People bring their wives, people aren't on guard. So if I went alone, it would be suspicious, like I was dangerous, or like I didn't trust them, or like they couldn't trust me. So they told me I needed to go, you know, _with_ someone. It makes me look vulnerable." He trails off.

"So you want me to go to this party as … your date?"

He squirms behind her. "As my wife."

What in the hells? She turns right around to look at him. "And that won't be fucking weird? In case you haven't noticed, we do look rather alike. Why can't I go as your sister?"

"You can't be my sister because I don't fucking want them to know you exist. Half-elf twins are memorable, Vex'ahlia, and that's not what I want to be. Also," he says, "I've got hair-dye and things. The resemblance won't be a problem."

"I'm not dyeing my hair," she says, immediately. 

"Obviously. It's for me," he says, and adds, reluctant, "I'll probably have to cut it, as well."

"Oh, darling, no." Vax hasn't cut his hair more than a trim in years; it's waist-length, gorgeous, moves around him like water when he lets it out.

He shrugs at her. "It's important," he says.

Vex knows he isn't telling her everything, but he at least looks like he's longing to. "All right, then," she says, as if she was ever going to say no. "But you're not touching my hair."

Vax closes his eyes, apparently in relief, and lets out a sigh. "Thank you," he says.

She watches him change what he looks like, curious to see how he'll do it. He digs around in his pack and brings out a roll of cloth, which he lays out and flips open. It has all sorts of interesting little packets and smells coming out of it; he brings out a pair of sharp little scissors and a little bottle that reeks of a scent Vex is grateful not to be able to place. 

"Ugh," she says, and Vax's nose wrinkles in agreement. 

He takes up the scissors first, and digs around in his pack until he comes out with a mirror he can prop against a rock. He squints at himself, then brings his hair around until it hangs either side of his face. Vex, chin in her hand, just watches as he takes a deep breath and cuts, first at one side and then the other, until his hair hangs just at his chin. 

He snips away grimly, face blank, until it's fairly even at the front; then he hands her the scissors and Vex trims the back until everything matches. 

He turns around to look at her. "What do you think?"

It's not as if he's suddenly gone to very short hair, but even this change does make him look different. It's a very human style; without his ears poking through Vex might think him a trapper or a woodsman or something. 

"Looks good," she says, brightly, instead of any of that. "How are you going to dye it?" People do it with nuts and berries, but she's never seen anyone with hair as dark as theirs dye it a different colour. 

Vax makes a face, and holds up the smelly little bottle. "With this," he says. 

He uses a brush and little gloves to apply it; Vex helps him at the nape of his neck. It smells even worse when it's working on his hair, and he grimaces when it's all on. 

"Your face will freeze like that," she says, automatic.

"It stings," he says. "They told me it would but I really didn't think it'd be this bad."

"Wash it off, then," she says, but he shakes his head.

"Has to stay on for a half-hour," he says. "I'll get used to it," and he brings out one of his knives and begins flipping it, as though concentrating on not chopping all his fingers off is exactly the distraction he needs. 

Probably it is. He started learning to do knife tricks just after they'd tried to go back home and found it gone, and Vex is still sure he did it mostly because when he was tossing knives in the air and trying not to lose fingers catching them he couldn't think about anything else.

Then he'd caught the eye of someone in the Clasp, and soon after that he'd started spending long stints in the city and coming home with more money than he could have made just by selling Vex's uncured furs. Vex likes the money, likes the feeling of security it affords her, but she doesn't like the look in Vax's eye much. 

He makes it the full half an hour before running over to the stream that runs past Vex's camp. "Wait," Vex says, and dips him a bucket. "I don't want whatever that is in this stream, people fish out of it," she says, and gestures him over to a bare-ish patch of grass, well away from the river. He strips off his shirt and bends forward; she sloshes the bucket over him and comes back for a second go, running her hand through his hair as gently as she can manage.

Vax shivers in the cold, but straightens when the water is running clean again, wiping his hair off his face. He's pale and wet-looking; Vex wants to hug him, suddenly, but instead hands him a rug and lets him dry himself off. 

His hair's still dark with wetness, but even so she can tell it's lighter than it was; he goes to sit by the fire, occasionally shaking it out over the heat, and grabs the roll of cloth again. First he gets a little plain, pale putty, and she watches, fascinated, as he sticks some of it up under his lips, changing the shape of his mouth. More of it goes around his browbone, and he affixes it carefully with glue he coats with a powder. Then he intently applies some kind of dye all over his face; it doesn't so much darken his skin as change the tone of it, and once it's done she can't see where the putty starts or ends, even though she can tell where his familiar, dear face has changed. 

Finishing touches applied, and hair fully dried over the fire, he turns to her, arms spread. "How do I look?"

He looks … strange, Vex thinks. It's oddly upsetting to look at him this way, at first; her eyes glance over the familiar features and settle on the strangenesses. He's never looked so little like her mirror, except perhaps his one unfortunate venture as a teenager into beard-growing. It had been a very predictable but harmless sort of rebellion, Vex had thought, to say, well, if I can't fit in, I'll really not fit in, and try to grow a beard in the middle of an elven city; it was just a little bit sad that it had looked really so awful.

She bites her lip and forces herself to assess objectively. His face is a different shape to hers, his hair a violently different colour. They're still similar-looking, but the city population is mostly human; no doubt it will be attributed to their elven nature. They'll pass as husband and wife.

She hates it.

"Fantastic," she says. "You're all ready."

*

They leave the next morning. It breaks Vex's heart to leave Trinket behind, but she's done it before, when necessary. There are some places a lanky one-year-old grizzly bear just can't blend in, and she's afraid to lose him; she knows it's the right thing to do. She leaves him a giant pile of food, even though she's been meticulous about teaching him to forage for himself in case anything ever happens to her, and Vax pretends not to notice her wiping tears away when she pets him goodbye and walks away.

They stay the night in the first inn they find that will hire them some horses in the morning; it turns out they're a perfectly plausible married couple, and Vex doesn't know how she feels about that. Vax tucks an arm around her, and Vex puts her head on his shoulder, and leans across to kiss him just to the side of his mouth when they're eating in the common room, and he shivers, and she gets a little warm, but it doesn't feel strange to her. They've been alone together for a long time, now, and Vax is more important to her, she's sure, than any husband could be, more truly her other half, more permanently hers.

They only get one bed but Vex can't pretend it's the first time they've ever slept in the same bed, or even the hundredth, and frankly a proper mattress is such a luxury for Vex at the moment she'd share a bed with a stranger for the privilege. After months of seeing Vax for a few days, then watching him vanish back to the city, it's good, she thinks, to be with him in a new place. She watches him, surreptitiously, in the darkness; he's staring at the ceiling, pale hair on the pillow, eyebrows furrowed.

They lie together for a while, quiet, until Vax takes a breath in.

"Listen, Vex," he says. "The people we'll be seeing aren't going to be nice people."

"This is a shock," she says, losing her temper all of a sudden, "because it seems like you're meeting so many people you're so eager to introduce me to at the moment."

"Don't, Vex," he says, but she can't stop. 

"Don't what? Don't worry about me, off in the city doing gods-knows-what?"

"I'm fucking fine," he says.

"Right," she says, bitter. She rolls over. It hurts to look at him. "You're just fine."

"We have to eat, Vex'ahlia," he says. 

"I can feed us," she says, stung. 

"I know you can, but it's not--" he sighs, and she feels him reach out one hand to her under the covers. She takes it, reluctantly. "It's not so bad, Vex. I promise. The stealing's fine."

Yes, but it's not just stealing, Vex thinks but doesn't say. As if that hadn't been obvious to her the first time Vax had come back to see her silent and upset, and obviously lied about what the problem was. She wants to tell him that she knows there are other things, but part of her thinks that Vax would stop coping if he couldn't keep pretending to himself that he's protecting her, and another part, very small, isn't sure she wants to know everything, after all. 

The anger goes out of her, in a rush, and she squeezes his hand. "I'm glad I'm here this time, anyway," she says. 

"Me too."

They're silent until they fall asleep.

*

In the early morning she wakes up with blonde hair tickling her face and is disoriented for a moment, until she hears Vax's familiar muttering and he sighs and rolls onto his back. Vex tucks her head against his chest and drifts off again. 

Eventually they have to get up, despite the bed. Vex strips off and washes in the jug on the nightstand; before she dresses, Vax says, "Wait a moment," and digs in his pack. He comes out with a riding dress, blue, with divided skirts, in nicer material than Vex has touched or even seen since they left Syngorn. Dresses aren't for day wear, in Vex's opinion, unless you're a wizard or a lady of leisure, but it's beautiful, precisely to her taste; her hands itch to touch it. 

"I've got some bags to pick up," Vax says, "but we've got to look more the thing from now, I think." He's producing garments of his own, finely made riding hose and a tunic; it goes well enough with his new hair colour and with Vex's own new dress. He dresses quickly, and is done before Vex is; she's tangled up in stays and lacing. "Let me," he says, and comes up behind Vex. He's efficient with the laces; his hands are warm when they brush against her back, and when he moves her braid over one shoulder so he can finish the lacing right up to the nape of her neck. 

She turns to face him, feeling a little uncertain. "Do I look the part?" She does a little twirl, deliberately coquettish. 

He coughs. "Not quite," he says, and fumbles in his pocket, retrieving--oh, yes. She's not sure why she didn't think of it; she's oddly breathless as he slides one ring onto his own finger, and the others onto hers. His hands are still warm. 

"There," he says, stepping back. "Just right." 

Vex can't think of anything to say; instead she gives him an up-and-down look. "You look like a useless idiot," she says. 

He smiles. "No change, then?"

"Quite," she says, and sweeps out of the room.

*

The inn hires them two horses, and they take it easy on the way into the city, trying to play the part of wealthy wastes of time. There, Vax dismounts, ducks down a street, and comes back carrying two sets of saddlebags, which he adds to each horse before mounting up and clicking his horse forward. "Clothes and things," he says, to Vex's look. "Make us look the part."

Whatever he's stealing must be worth a pretty copper, Vex reflects. This riding dress, with its full, split skirt, didn't come cheap, and nor did Vax's clothes; if everything in the bags is like this, someone's spending a lot of money just to properly equip them. Not to mention horse hire, stabling fees, whatever it took to get the invitation.

She doesn't make this observation aloud, however, just knees her horse ahead, a little closer to Vax's. It's not that she minds cities, quite likes them, even, and this is a small one, barely crowded enough to present a problem for her horse, but Vax knows this city, and she doesn't. She's come in once or twice, but she's used to forest quiet now; she'll go weeks without seeing anyone, and the people she does see are bandits, thieves, poachers. Not nice people. And looking through a crowd she somehow sees far more of those people than she would want to. Still, though, she'd better get used to them if she's not going to act like a country idiot at this party and blow their cover.

As they wend their way through the streets the crowd starts thinning; she starts seeing more guards on the street, importantly standing by large buildings that don't seem in any danger of running away or being robbed, and the buildings go from ramshackle tenements and stalls to elegant homes, set alone in gardens. Well, she knew it was going to be a fancy party, so when Vax turns his horse towards a wide, tall building, lit with lanterns, with expensively huge glass windows, she's fairly prepared. Even though it's really less of a house, and more a little palace. A palace-ette, Vex thinks, vaguely giddy.

Unlike the rest of the street, it's busy. Dancing lights hang in the air, and carriages and horses are pulling up to deposit finely dressed men and women and even a few dwarves and elves on the front steps.

"Well, here we go," Vex says. 

"Here we go," Vax says. He sounds rather like he's dreading it. He dismounts, and offers her a hand; she nearly demands to know why, before remembering that her useless wealthy self probably needs the help, so she takes it, easing herself down and landing in the circle of his arms. 

She tilts her head up to look at him, reaches up to adjust his collar. "It'll be fine," she says, quietly, using her arm to cover her mouth from anyone who might be looking over. "It'll be fun," although she's not especially convinced of that and Vax doesn't look like he believes her. "We'll dance, we'll pretend to be idly wealthy, we'll flirt with the actual idle wealthy and enjoy good food for a change, and soon you'll find the thing you need to find and we can be gone."

He laughs little. "Just like that."

"Just like that," she says. "Come along, husband," and she tucks her hand in the crook of his arm and leads him towards the door. 

A human woman bustles over to them, holding a list and looking officious. "Name, please," she says. 

Vex suddenly realises she has no idea what their names are supposed to be. Panic takes over; she puts on her coolest expression, sticks her chin in the air, looks down her nose, and says, in the chilly tones deployed by the biggest snob she ever met in Syngorn, "Excuse me?"

The woman bridles; Vax leans forward. "I beg your pardon," he says. "My name is Danyel Silar, and this is my wife, Liara. We were invited," he adds, somehow managing to make it sound as though he doesn't much care whether or not they're on any list. Vex can barely restrain herself from giving him a surprised look; he's never been one for playing those sorts of games, but he sounds almost polished. 

She supposes she doesn't know quite what he's been getting up to lately. The thought makes her a little queasy. 

While she's been distracted, though, Vax has managed to convince the housekeeper to let them in, and assign them a housemaid to take them to their room and a footman to carry their bags; he thanks her, and Vex sees a flash of coin, before he tucks her arm more firmly into his and leads her through. 

The entrance hall is enormous; Vex gets a fleeting impression of marble and stairs and dark red draperies before they're efficiently whisked down a hall, up a rather smaller set of stairs, and along one more corridor.

"You're in the yellow room," the maid says, and shows them to the door. "There's jugs to bathe in for you, and the master is expecting to dine in two hours."

"Thank you," Vax says, and tips her, too, and the footman once he's deposited their bags in their room.

The yellow room is indeed yellow, in a rather sickly shade, with curtains and bedspread of a fairly revolting brown. Still, when Vex runs her hand over them, the sheets are fine and smooth and the bed is soft and smells clean; she'd almost forgotten how wonderful a freshly made up bed could be, and she throws herself onto it with a blissful sigh. 

A moment later the bed thumps with Vax's added weight, and she rolls over into him with a contented sigh. "Let's not go to dinner," she says. "Let's just sleep in this ugly beautiful bed."

His arm comes around her automatically. "Let's," he says, and they lie there in silence for a few minutes until they both sigh together and sit up. 

"I suppose we'll dress for dinner," Vex says. She's not terribly enthusiastic about the idea, but she'll admit to some curiosity as to what Vax has in the saddlebags. 

It turns out what he has in them is a scandalously slinky raw silk dress in red. When she shakes it out, the wrinkles vanish, an elegant piece of enchantment Vex immediately envies. It's a dress that would have gotten an elf with the prissiest bloodline kicked out of the least fancy party in Syngorn; Vex loves it immediately, and wriggles into it with glee. It's cut so low in the front and the back she can do up the lacings herself, even after strapping a knife to the small of her back, and when she turns to face Vax, who is putting the finishing touches on an elegant but extremely conservative black velvet number, he swallows when he sees her. 

Vex feels something she doesn't care to name twist in her stomach; she feels herself blush, faintly, and covers it up by cocking a hip at him. "This is not the dress I was expecting," she tells him. 

He blinks a few times, and looks away from her with a cough. "Like I said, the people here are wealthy, but they aren't very nice. You'll fit right in," from which Vex gathers rather more than she would like to about their likely dinner company. 

"Oh," she says, and shoves her feet into the useless little slippers she also found in the bags. "How do I look?"

She's pushing it a little, she knows, but he looks at her anyway, and she gives him the same assessing look. The horrible blonde hair is tied back, and he looks pale and washed out, but the black still suits him; he looks lethal, and not just because Vex knows he must have a dagger or five under there somewhere. 

"Your hair," he says, at last. "It'll need to be up, I think."

It makes sense but Vex hates it, has never liked pinning and prodding. 

"I'll do it," he says, like he knows, so Vex slinks into a chair and watches him produce another set of unlikely hair implements. He's quick about pinning her hair up; he hasn't done it since they were teenagers, suffering through another awful party. Vex never could get the hang of the fancy hairstyles she was supposed to sport; she remembers almost weeping in frustration the first time, trying to hide it, and Vax taking the pins out of her hands and saying "Let me." 

This isn't quite the same, but she remembers it anyway, unwillingly flashing back as she meets Vax's eyes in the mirror she's seated in front of. 

He looks back at her, but doesn't say anything. She wonders if he's remembering the same thing. 

"There's a contact I'm to meet tonight," he says. "Worked with him before."

So probably not. "Yes?" Vex says. 

"He has an in with Lord Ardvale, so I'll get an introduction."

"All right. And what am I supposed to be doing?"

He shrugs. "Looking decorative?"

She shoves her elbow back; he's not expecting it, and only half manages to get out of her way with his annoying speed. 

"Fucking hell, Vex," he says. "It doesn't matter as long as you look the part and make me look the part, too."

She grits her teeth. "If you would just tell me what it is we're stealing, I could find information, or I could have a look around while you meet your contact--"

"No. No way," he says, adding the last pin to her hair. 

For fuck's sake, Vex thinks, and spins around. "How am I supposed to help you if you won't tell me the help you need?"

"I didn't want you involved in this in the first place," he snaps back, "but I couldn't trust anyone else. Please, Vex," and he's looking tired again. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Not telling me anything isn't likely to help with that," Vex says, and seethes internally all the way down to dinner.

*

They meet in an elegant little room with a drinks cart. Vax, playing the part of the attentive husband, deposits her on a couch and heads to the little cart to acquire drinks. Vex positions herself carefully to show off the slinky dress. Casting an assessing eye around the room, she realises that Vax was right. She does fit in, although few of the women present, she flatters herself, look _quite_ as good in their slinky dresses as she does in hers.

The party is a roughly equal mix of men and women, and Vax was right again: he needed her. Couples are everywhere, and they all look just like Vex and Vax do: one half conservatively dressed in sombre shades, the other half usually quite a bit more younger and decorative-looking. There's a half-elven woman across from Vex in a high-necked dark green gown that does nothing at all to conceal heavily muscled arms; she has a scar across one eye, and she's giving Vex an admiring look, until she's joined by a slender human woman Vex assesses as being no more than 18. The new woman is dressed in a bright yellow, and she leans appealingly on her wife's arm until it's wrapped around her.

Vex tries not to look too much like she's scoping the room out, but watches the pattern repeat itself across the room. She's distracted enough by one couple, a dwarf and a halfling, both men, that she nearly startles when a human sits down on the couch beside her. 

"Excuse me," he says, and offers her his hand. "I couldn't help noticing the most beautiful woman here is sitting alone." He's conservatively dressed. There's nothing outright objectionable about him, but something about the way he looks at Vex feels … greasy. 

She lowers her eyes a little, playing for time, and takes his hand. "Good evening," she says, and tries for a simper. 

His eyes are sharp; she feels convinced he hasn't fallen for it, but he doesn't say anything, just kisses her hand--yuck--and returns it to her. "Surely you aren't here by yourself?"

"No, no," she says. "My husband is right over--" she looks over to the drinks cart, but Vax isn't there. Where the hell is he?

The man follows her gaze, then returns to her. "He's not a very good husband if he abandons you here," he says. "I hope you'll allow me to keep you company."

"I--oh, thank you," Vex says, pretending to be flustered. "You're so kind," although he isn't, "and I don't even know your name!"

"Halworth," he says. He gives her an indulgent smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "And you?"

She can almost feel his gaze lingering on her arms and neck; it's revolting. It pisses her off. "Liara--Liara Silar."

"Silar, Silar," he says. "I don't think I know that name."

"I don't know many people here either! Goodness," she adds, probably laying it on a bit thick, but she's convinced by this point he doesn't believe her anyway, "There are just so many people here, aren't there? Isn't it a pretty party?" Through her eyelashes, she glances around. Just out of the corner of her eye she sees Vax, thank the gods, making his way towards her.

"Certainly," Halworth says. "But, Liara--may I call you Liara?"

"Oh," she starts to say, but just then she feels a hand come down on her shoulder, at fucking last, and Vax is behind her. She can feel his faintly grim presence; it's ludicrously reassuring to know he's there.

"Darling," Vax says, "here's your drink."

"Danyel!" she says, jumping up and barely restraining herself from flinging her arms around him. "Where have you been, you naughty man?"

She sees his lip wrinkle a little as he tries not to laugh. "I'm afraid they were out of ice, _dearest_ ," he says. "Won't you introduce me to your friend? I'm Danyel Silar," he says, extending his hand to Halworth.

He rose when Vex did, and he takes Vax's hand, face impassive. "Halworth," he says, brief. "You have a lovely wife."

"Yes, I do," Vax says, and slips an arm around Vex's waist. Vex leans into it, and smiles at Halworth. 

He nods at them. "Good evening. I hope to see you again. Perhaps, Liara, you would dance with me tomorrow night?"

Vex is praying they'll be gone by then, actually, but she widens her smile anyway. "I'd be so flattered, sir!"

He looks amused, makes a small bow, and leaves; Vex sighs, feeling her spine relax. "That is a horrible man," she says.

"Everyone here is horrible," Vax says, flatly. "I told you they would be."

"Yes, but he was really something else," says Vex. 

Vax bristles. "Did he say something?" 

"No. It's just a feeling I had," Vex says, and shrugs her shoulders a little, trying to regain her composure. "Anyway, where in the nine hells were you?"

"Meeting my contact and getting an introduction," Vax says. "Hopefully we can be out of here by tomorrow night, after the ball."

"Gods, I hope I don't have to dance with him."

He embraces her a little more firmly. "I'll dance with you all evening, like a besotted newlywed," he suggests, laughing. 

"Too unbelievable," she says, but feels relieved despite herself.

*

The dinner is uneventful. Vex sits between Vax and a tall half-orc man who introduces himself as Tarvis, visiting from Emon. He carries out polite conversation and is even witty from time to time without revealing any hints about his occupation, lifestyle, or any tastes or preferences. 

"Is everyone at this party a criminal?" Vex says to Vax, when dessert has been eaten and port has been drunk and they're finally able to escape to their room and that delicious bed. Vex is unpinning her hair; Vax is struggling with the ties on his hose.

He shrugs at her. "Some of them are business people," he says. 

"What's the difference?" Vex says. Vax laughs. 

"And are all the people you work with like this?" She'd met Vax's contact drinking port, a small, sharp woman with a needle smile and a quiet, mousy husband. She hadn't liked her. 

"Most of them," Vax says. 

She wrinkles her nose, and he smiles, looking a little pleading. "I know they're horrible," he says. "Let's not have this fight again."

"All right," she says, sick of it, too, and shrugs out of the slinky dress. She hadn't been able to work much underwear underneath it; she moves to the mirror, naked, to find a brush, and drags it through her hair a few times, as much as she can be bothered.

Vax, sounding a little strangled, says, "There's a robe on the bed." He's staring at her; she can feel his eyes on her skin, and it makes her flush, though it's hardly the first time they've been naked around each other. 

"We're married, darling, you can see me naked. Besides, I'm just getting into bed, what's the point," she says, and does so. "Get the lights, will you."

Vax blows out the lanterns and finishes undressing in the dark, crawling into bed. When he does, Vex wriggles her way up to him and grabs his arm, rolling on her side and putting it around her. 

"Vex--" he says, stiff and awkward. 

"I just want to know you're here," she says, and after a while she feels him relaxing. His hand splays over her stomach, and his breathing relaxes; Vex lies there for a long while, feeling him warm behind and around her, until she falls asleep.

*

The next morning they're able to dress and make their way downstairs to the breakfast room without incident; Vax picks away at toast and Vex enjoys a selection of cured meat and eggs as the rest of the party slowly filters in. Vex sees Halworth, at the other side of the room; he's watching her, but when she looks up and meets his eyes, he turns back to his companions. It makes her shiver. 

Vax's needle-like contact, Issa, joins them halfway through breakfast, husband in tow. "Danyel," she says, "a word?" Her eyes flick over Vex. "I don't want to bore your wife, of course. Arty, why don't you take Liara over to that card party?"

"I'm not bored," Vex says, and leans deliberately against Vax. "I'm never bored when I'm with Dany." 

The woman gives her a thin smile. "Sweet of you to say, child. Off you go."

Vax leans in. "Please," he says, very quietly, so Vex grinds her teeth and gets to her feet. 

"Cards do look ever so fun," she says, and takes Arty over to the small green tables people already have set up. 

It's mostly the decorative men and women from the night before, and half of them have clearly started drinking already; Vex has won quite a lot of money by the time Vax and Issa join them, and Vax comes to sit by Vex's shoulder. 

 

"Don't bother me, darling, I'm in the middle of a rubber," she says, distractedly, and he sits quietly and watches her until it's over and she's collecting her winnings from people whose names she hasn't bothered to remember.

She rises from the table. "I hate to leave when I'm winning, darlings," she says. 

"Liar," says the woman sitting kitty-corner to her. She's wearing yellow cotton and a carefully calculated amused expression.

"Oh, let her go," another polished young thing says, languid. "I can't stand to lose any more money to her. Off you go, Liara." 

Vex looks over to Vax, expecting to see him looking bored, but he's just smiling at her; despite the odd hair and the prosthetics that she knows are there, his look is the only real expression she's seen on anyone's face all morning, and her heart does a little flip of affection. She holds out her hand and lets him draw her away. 

*

They go out to the garden surrounding the house after breakfast. It's pretty, Vex supposes, if you like your lawns manicured and your flowers highly regimented. The place must have an army of gardeners, though she can't see any now; instead the garden is dotted with elegantly dressed men and women lounging in the sun, drinking, and talking in clusters. 

Vex and Vax drift from cluster to cluster for a while, unobtrusively working their way around the entire house so Vax can scope out exits and entry points and get a rough idea of the layout of the house. Some of the little clusters are clearly engaged in business; they go silent when Vax and Vex approach, or change the subject with varying degrees of subtlety. Other clusters are wine-sodden already, or drugged, or gossiping unpleasantly about people in other clusters. Vex sets herself to be agreeable, flirting and distracting, leaning forward to put her hand on someone's arm or to press slyly against someone, hoping to make it less than obvious how much attention Vax isn't paying to anyone's conversation. It's been a long time since she had to flex these muscles; she finds, to her slight surprise, that the dishonesty is easier than it had been. Nothing in her resiles from lying to these people the way she shied away from lying at parties in Syngorn. 

Mind you, she supposes, it wasn't all that common in Syngorn for her to be at parties with a gang of thieves and murderers. Still, though, at least some of these people are the harmless idiots Vex is pretending to be. She should probably feel bad about the way she's manipulating them wholesale. 

She doesn't. 

Eventually Vax pulls her to one side. "I've seen all I can see from out here," he says. "I need to have a look around inside."

Vex goes up on tiptoes to put her arms around his neck. Leaning in, she murmurs in his ear, "We need to look less like we're plotting and more like we're canoodling, darling."

Vax grunts, but puts his arms around her waist; Vex nestles her head on his chest. "What's the plan?"

"If you can get sick," he says, "I can probably take you up to our room."

"Or we could just look like we're off to--you know," Vex says, sly. She leans up and puts her mouth on his neck. 

Vax's hands clench at her waist for just one second, before he eases off. "I have a potion that will make you sick," he says. "You'll be fine once you throw up, but it's extremely convincing."

"You're not at all committed to our marriage," Vex says, but sighs, and takes the little bottle he slips her. 

Vax's hands slip from her waist. One cups her cheek, tilting her face up gently to look at him; the other pets her hair. Vex feels strangely breathless. 

"Two drops in your next drink," he says, and brushes his thumb over her cheek. He leans in further to whisper directly in her ear, "Committed enough?", and before she can answer he breaks away to take her by the hand and lead her over to another little cluster of thieves. 

*

The potion works as intended; Vex slips it in her drink when nobody's looking, and is soon feeling rather revolting. She throws up, noisily and extremely authentically, in a spot in the garden where she hopes it won't be too difficult to clean up, and a moment later Vax is there, taking her hand and looking solicitous. It almost makes her laugh, thinking about how useless he'd been last time she was really sick; still, she does her best to look pale and weak, and leans against him as he takes her up to their room. 

Once there, Vax pulls the drapes, and Vex flops onto the bed, washing her mouth out with the water jug on the nightstand. She is, as Vax predicted, already feeling absolutely fine; the prospect of lying here while Vax sneaks his way around the house is quite dire, which she tells him. 

"Have a nap," he says. "With any luck we'll be leaving tomorrow; you should enjoy the bed while you can."

She'd rather be watching his back, but Vax refuses point-blank, and when she sticks her head out of the room to follow him anyway he's vanished already, in Vax's most annoying fashion. She sighs, and goes back to bed, and does indeed nap, stirring just a little when Vax comes back to the room an hour later and climbs in next to her. 

*

They're woken by a discreet tap on the door. Vex is on her side; Vax is snuggled up behind her, the same way they'd slept the night before, and he's breathing warmly on her neck, making her shiver. She rolls over in bed, sleepily; there's little light coming through the curtains, and she supposes it must be early evening. The tap comes again; she sighs, and levers herself out of bed, making sure to kick Vax as she goes. 

The tapping is a maid; she bobs a curtsey when she sees Vex, and says, "I was sent to say that if you're not well enough to attend the ball tonight, we can send supper up for you, but if you are well enough ..."

"It's time to dress?" The maid is far too well trained to go so far as to tell Vex what to do, so Vex finishes her sentence for her.

"Yes, madam," the maid says. 

Vex stretches, thinking about it. They probably have to go. "Yes, I feel much better," she says. "Thank you for waking us." 

"You're welcome, madam," the maid says, bobs another curtsey, and bustles off. 

Vex shuts the door; Vax rolls over in bed. 

"I suppose we have to go," she says.

"Wait till you see this dress," Vax says. 

It is, Vex admits, when she gets it out, stunning. She was expecting another slinky number, but this is far more restrained, in her favourite blue with a feathered embroidery. It's dashing, but exquisitely tasteful; elegant, but comfortable; fashionable, but with, she discovers when she puts it on, several spots where an enterprising young woman can tuck a knife or four away. Vex is in love. 

Vax doesn't say anything, just gives her a self-satisfied look when she gets it on. 

"All right," she says. "I love it." 

He looks smug, and flicks a finger at her. "Turn around and I'll do your hair again."

They're quiet while he fixes her hair. Vex watches him in the mirror; his face, even altered, is beloved, familiar. She recognises the frowns and the tune he hums while he's pinning up her curls. His finger are firm and soothing in her hair. 

He's nearly done when she opens her mouth and it falls out. 

"Do you ever get the feeling that we're the only real people in the entire world?"

His eyes flick up to meet hers in the mirror; Vex feels his hands clench a little in her hair. "I--" he starts to say, but before he can finish there's a knock on the door. They both swear, explosively, and Vax says, "Hold that thought."

It's needle-sharp Issa, already dressed for the ball. She comes in and shuts the door behind herself without asking, and casts a cool eye over them both before turning to Vax, ignoring Vex as if she wasn't in the room. "Do it tonight," is all she says. 

Vax flinches. "I thought tomorrow--"

She shakes her head. "Tonight. Just after supper. He'll leave the room--"

Vax gestures to cut her off, and Issa glances over at Vex and shrugs, but doesn't bother to finish her sentence. "Tonight," she repeats, and leaves without saying anything else.

Vax slumps onto the bed and closes his eyes. "We'd better pack our things," he says, after a while. 

"All right," Vex says, eyeing him. He doesn't move; Vex can't tell what he's thinking. Eventually, she goes to him, and strokes his hair. He sighs, and presses his face into her lap.

"You can tell me, you know," Vex says. 

"No, I can't," Vax says, but she keeps petting him anyway.

*

It's been a long, long time since Vex has attended a ball, and despite the miserable tension emanating from Vax, and despite the fact that the people she's dancing with and making polite conversation with range from stupid to unpleasant to Vex-is-slightly-worried-they-might-be-about-to-kill-her-or-perhaps-their-own-mother, she still enjoys it. There isn't a lot of opportunity for dancing or music when you live in the woods with a bear, and everyone here can at least dance. 

Even Vax dances well, when she drags him out to continue to deploy their cover. She still remembers fumbling around in Syldor's mansion, gawky teenagers too embarrassed to ask anyone else, trying to figure out what in the hells they were doing. Vax dances very differently now, though, competently, even a little slick, although not confident, and not, she judges, having a lot of fun. She leans in in a dip and says, in his ear, "Try to look like you're enjoying yourself at a ball with your wife, why don't you?"

He smirks at her, twirling her out and back to him. "I'll do my best," and his movement does change a little bit, until in the next set they come face-to-face with Issa and Arty. His back stiffens; Vex can feel it under her palm. 

Fine, Vex thinks; if Vax can't relax, he can't relax, and if he can't tell her what's happening, she can't help him, so she sets herself forward to have fun anyway, to be the life of the party, and hopes nobody notices Vax, on her arm or sitting next to her in the little gilt chairs that line the ballroom, isn't quite so effervescent. She dances with men and women in conservative suits, in beautiful dresses like hers, in slinky dresses like the one she'd worn the previous evening. She makes idle conversation; she appears to drink copious amounts of champagne; she flirts ill-advisedly until Vax can stir himself to come over and put his arm around her and play the protective husband. 

They break for supper, and at the buffet table Vex finds herself face-to-face with Halworth. He nods politely, and asks for a dance.

Everything in Vex recoils at the thought, but she manages a polite smile. "Oh, sir, I'm very afraid my husband didn't like me talking to you. I don't think he would like it if we were to dance!"

"Oh, then of course we must not." He bows. "Still, I'll see you again, Liara."

I fucking hope not, Vex thinks, and, "That would be so pleasant," she says, curtsying and walking away as quickly as she politely can.

Dancing resumes, and Vex throws herself into sets, dances with anyone who will ask, picks the fastest dances so she can dance till she's breathless. She's not sure when, but in the middle of one dance, she looks over, and can't see Vax. He's not, she determines on her next circumnavigation, in the ballroom, and he doesn't come back in during the next dance, or the next; finally, though, she turns at the end of one dance and he's there, looking pale but faking a smile. 

"Lady wife," he says, "I hope you have another dance for me," and Vex gives him her hand with a smile. 

"You look terrible," she says, quietly, through her teeth, as their take their places. "Is it done? Did you get it?"

He laughs, involuntarily, a harsh sound that he turns with visible effort into something lighter when heads turn. "Oh, yes," he said. 

"Thank fuck," she says. "This is nice, but I'm just about done with this place."

"And Trinket misses you."

"And Trinket misses me."

They split for a measure, and return. "Dance one more dance," Vax says, "and then head for the stables--I'll meet you there."

"Our things?" Vex lets him turn her, automatically. 

"Arty was supposed to get them, but there's nothing there I need," Vax says, and Vex shrugs in agreement. 

"Fine," she says, and as she presses one hand against his side for a spin she notices her hand coming away wet, and sees redness there, and gasps. 

Vax glances down. "It's not mine," he says, urgently, and Vex smooths her face over as fast as she can. They were close together; perhaps nobody noticed, and glancing around the room, nobody's staring. 

Vax's suit is dark; Vex can't see how big the stain is. Worry curls in her, but she takes a deep breath and keeps dancing. She can yell at him later, when they're out of here, finally. 

Vax deposits her at the dining table, where she can find a napkin and discreetly wipe her hand, tucking the dirty napkin away in one of the dress's convenient pockets. When she looks up, Vax has disappeared again. 

She picks the noisiest partner she can and dances the next dance in the centre set, trying to be as visible, as chatty, as relaxed as she can; but the fun has gone out of it now she knows she can leave, and she's grateful when it draws to a close, so she can slip through the crowds as quietly as she can. 

She heads towards what the ladies have been calling the powder room (while Vax rolls his eyes) anyway, in case she's being watched, and breaks just before she gets to that door, glancing around her. The halls are quiet, empty, and she makes it to the stables without incident.

Vax is there, pacing; he looks relieved when he sees her. "Thank fuck," he says, and leads their horses out. They're saddled already, and loaded; Vex hopes to hell she can get on in this beautiful dress, because she doesn't really want to cut the skirt open no matter how useless it would be in her day to day life. 

Vax boosts her up, but before he can mount Issa and Arty come around the corner.  
"It's done?" Issa says. 

"It's done," Vax says, and digs in his pocket for something. Vex can't see what it is; it's wrapped in a bloody cloth, and when Vax tosses it to Issa he looks relieved to see it go. 

Issa opens the cloth, looks inside, and closes it up again. "Very well," she says. 

That's it? Vex thinks to herself, and nearly opens her mouth to say so. This bullshit weekend, these vile people, for something small and bloody? But she keeps her mouth shut.

Issa nods to Arty, who uncorks the large jug he's carrying. He starts splashing it around the place where the stables meet the house; it smells strongly of firestarting to Vex, and she realises what it is as Vax mounts. 

"Is that necessary?" she says.

Arty looks at her. He's been so mousy all weekend; the look on his face now, lit with some kind of glow, is frankly a little terrifying, like turning over a rock looking for worms and finding a poisonous snake. "Issa always lets me light fires," he says. His mouth is wet. Vex feels a little sick.

"It'll distract the guards for a while," Issa says, "but really, it's for Arty. He's been very good." She reaches out a hand and pats him on the shoulder; he preens. "I'll see you in a week, Vax'ildan. Stay out of sight till then, and get your real face back."

"Go fuck yourself, Issa," Vax says, and rides out of the stables. Vex spits on the ground in front of Issa, for emphasis, and follows.

They're barely out of the yard before they hear the fwoomp of fire, and a horse screams. Vex glances back, but Vax leans over to grab her arm. "Keep going," he says, urgently, and they kick their horses forward and get out of the city as fast as they possibly can. 

*

They're faster to get back to Vex's camp in the woods than they were leaving, moving as quickly and as quietly as they can. Vex goes in alone to return their horses to the inn where they'd hired them, and then it's hours on foot in silence.

Vax is pale and drawn for the entire journey. Vex doesn't have the stomach for conversation, either, still remembering the sound of horses panicking, the orange light she saw when she looked back. The further they get away, the more angry she gets. She's angry about the horses. She's angry Vax didn't tell her what he was doing, still hasn't and probably won't, as if she can't figure it out for herself. She's angry that either of them even had to be there, in a beautiful house full of beautiful, vile people. 

She's been angry with Vax before--sometimes she feels like their basic state of being is mildly annoyed with each other--but it's never been like this, mixed up in fear and dishonesty, and she fucking hates it, and they walk without speaking for most of the day.

It's late afternoon when they get back, and Trinket comes running up and knocks Vex over to hug her. 

Vex hugs back, speechless, on the edge of tears all of a sudden. She has to bury her face in Trinket's fur to recover her composure, and then he licks her face, making her splutter. "Hey, buddy," she says, shoving him back with one hand so she can get up. "I missed you so much!"

Trinket makes a grumbly growl, and butts his head against her leg. She scritches behind his ears, and after a minute Vax comes over and puts his hand behind hers, patting Trinket with her. 

She looks down at their hands on Trinket, the same fine bones, the same tapered fingers. She thinks about meeting Trinket for the first time, the things she still hasn't told Vax about that night, the things she's promised herself she'll never tell Vax about that night. She sees scars on Vax's hands she doesn't recognise, calluses she can't place; she wonders if she has scars he doesn't understand, either. 

She turns her hand over and grips his for a moment; he squeezes back, and Vex feels the anger go out of her.

*

That night Vax uses one foul-smelling spirit to get the prosthetics off his face, and Vex helps him work black dye back into his hair and rinse it out. Seeing his proper face again, even if his hair is a bit short, is like a nagging itch she didn't know she had has suddenly vanished, and she takes two long strides forward until she can hug him.

It would be embarrassing how tight she's clinging to him, but his arms go round her as tight as hers are around him. 

He clears his throat. "What you said," he says, carefully. "About us being the only two--"

"--real people," Vex says. 

"Yeah," he says. "The answer's yes, by the way."

"I know," she says, and tips her face up to kiss him.

He pulls away for a second, looking at her. She puts everything she wants on her face and tries to give it to him, without words. 

"Vax," she says, and he says her name, on a long breath outwards, and kisses her, hungrily.

It should feel strange, kissing her brother, her twin, her mirror. It doesn't. It feels like the only possible thing they should be doing. She looks for shame, but feels nothing so much as relief, relief that he's still here, and she's still here, and they're together.

She puts a hand in Vax's hair and drags him down into her, deepens the kiss, and heat surges through her. She breaks away long enough to shove him down onto the pile of furs she sleeps in; he stumbles a little, unusually graceless, but goes, and she straddles him, pinning him down with a hand on his chest and kissing him again until she feels him go loose beneath her. 

"Vex," he says, when she breaks the kiss, but she works her hips down on him where she can feel him hard beneath her.

"Ssh," she says, and this time he bites her lip in retaliation, but does what he's told, shutting up and putting his hands on her, one on her waist, the other one making its way down to squeeze her ass.

"Mm," Vex says, and breaks away to run a line of kisses down his neck, biting at one until he squirms and makes a small noise. 

She sits up, then, and drags her tunic off, stripping off breastband as she goes so she's half-naked. Vax takes the opportunity to flip them; she lets him, so she can wriggle out of her leggings, too, and work away at Vax's shirt and trousers until they're naked, Vax poised over her, panting. He bites his lip, staring at her, and she knows where she wants that, suddenly. He leans in to kiss her, and she lets him, but gets a hand on his head and urges him down. He laughs, and she kicks him. 

"Do what you're told, for a change," she suggests, and gets a nip on the side of her breast for her trouble as Vax makes his way down. He stares up at her, grinning, as he presses a too-soft kiss to her belly, making her shiver; she reaches down to smack him, but he dodges, effortlessly, and sucks a bruise into her inner thigh. "You're a horrible tease," she says. 

"Bite your tongue," Vax says, and puts his own to good use, pressing his mouth against her cunt. 

Vex would come up with a great retort, but she's busy shoving her hand in her mouth and biting down as Vax works her over ever so thoroughly, expertly wringing an orgasm out of her with tongue and lips and fingers. 

When she comes to, his fingers are still moving in her, gently; he's sweating, and he's looking at her like it's impossible for him to move away. Vex clenches around his fingers. It's nice, but she's not done, and he's still hard, and she wants him in her, desperately all of a sudden. He starts to withdraw, and Vex lets him, but gathers her strength enough to shove him off her and over onto his back so she can straddle him again, naked this time. Vax goes with it; she gets her hands on his wrists and pins him down, and his eyes flutter shut as she grinds down on him. 

"Gods, Vex," he says, sounding wrecked.

"Not quite," she says, and reaches back with one hand and eases herself down and onto his cock. 

It feels big this way, sinking in, and she's still a little sensitive, and she makes one long, loud moan that's matched by Vax beneath her. His hands are clutching at her, one running up and down her side, one on her waist; she smiles at him, tosses her hair back, and begins to move her hips.

It doesn't take long. Vax has been waiting, and Vex is eager for it still. The hand Vax has on her waist slides down to rub at her clit, and Vax's hip bucks, and soon they're going over, as easily as if they were holding hands and jumping off a cliff, shaking to pieces together.

*

Vex never finds out exactly what it was Vax stole that weekend. She doesn't ask again what he does for the Clasp in the city; she pretends not to see him clean the blood off his daggers, and he never asks her what she does when she's not trapping or shooting for fur when he's away, but they're all right, Vex thinks. They will be. They have to be.


End file.
